Discover the Biological Sciences
The introductory information for this site has been contributed as a joint assignment by students in Bio. Sci. 10.
Oceanography
By: Emily Bowen
Oceanography
My topic that I chose is Oceanography. Since I was little I have always enjoyed the ocean and the different creatures that live in the ocean. So when I saw that as a topic I thought it would be a perfect change for me to learn exactly what oceanography is. In doing a little research I found out that oceanography or also known as oceanology or marine science is part of Earth Sciences that studies the oceans and seas.
Oceanography can be divided into different branches which include marine biology, chemical oceanography, marine geology, physical oceanography and marine engineering. There are so many different areas that can be studied or learned in oceanography. A few of the things that are studied in oceanography are waves, ocean currents, geology of the sea floor and plate tectonics; these are just to name a few. Marine biology seems to be an area that would be linked to our Biological Science class. Marine biology is the study of animals and other organisms that live in the oceans and other bodies of water. There are so many things that can be learned every time you turn the corner there is something else interesting about Oceanography that can be learned.
Well since we are taking a Biology class I guess the best topic to talk about would be Marine Biology. Marine Biology is the study of one of the smallest organisms (plankton) to one of the largest animals in the sea (whale) and how they interact with one another in there home we call the ocean. The ocean is a world that is always alive. There are so many interesting living creatures in the ocean like coral which does not seem like it would be living. What I want to give you more information about is the microscopic organism plankton because it is one of the most important creatures in the oceans. It supplies an abundant supply of food to many of the living creatures in the ocean. Almost all plankton can not resist the oceans current so it just moves along with the current of the ocean. Like I said they are on the bottom of the food chain so they are being eaten by many other creatures in the ocean. Phytoplankton is important because they help the oceans carbon cycle. They help the carbon cycle because they use photosynthesis to secure carbon when in sunlit area of the water. Once they have absorbed the carbon the plankton sinks to the bottom which then takes the carbon to the sea floor. This is why the ocean is considered to be the largest body of dynamic carbon. So now you know a little bite more about a part of oceanography even though it is just a minuscule portion of a much bigger picture.
I really enjoyed learning more about Oceanography. I did not realize that there were that many things that were studied under the field of oceanography. Looking back at what I learned I thought the most interesting was the branch of oceanography called Marine Biology. The most interesting part of the research was how the plankton works with the ocean to help everything in the ocean live. Plankton really is one of the most important organisms in the ocean.
References: Other References:
htt://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanography htt://science.hq.nasa.gov/oceans/
htt://www.onr.navy.mil/focus/ocean/ htt://chesapeakebay.net/info/plankton.cfm
htt://www.nhptv.org/NatureWorks/nwep6d.htm htt://marinebio.org/
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